TRUCKING COMPANY BUSINESS PLAN SAMPLE

We will also be considering the topic “starting a trucking business checklist” because it has become necessary due to a rising interest in the sector. Although many people have shown interest, only a few of the many successes.

This is because it requires much more than knowing how to drive a truck or having a strong passion for the business.
This article will provide a checklist of the essential requirements for starting a trucking business.

  • Understanding How it Works

There are lots of things to consider when starting a trucking business. One effective way of understanding how it works is by actually getting involved.

By getting involved, we mean working for a trucking business yourself.

There are lots of logistics involved in successfully running one. While learning on the job, you get to understand the vital aspects of the business that guarantee success.

You gain a better perspective on how a trucking business should be run. Learning on the job also gives you experience which you can readily bring to bear when setting up your own business.

  • Choosing a Niche

By choosing a niche, you are refining your quality of services and designing such services to fit specific clients. When selecting a place in the trucking industry, you must consider a particular product, a specialized market, or a geographic area.

For specific product niches, you are looking at certain products that may be abundant in certain regions. Hauling highly demanded products can be a great niche to consider.

For products hauled out of specific locations, such geographical areas can present opportunities to focus on. Such could be found within your site.

In any case, choosing a niche allows you to direct your focus to a specific market. This cuts down on huge expenditures and logistical problems.

  • Avoiding Cash Flow Issues

This is a primary requirement to consider when starting a trucking business.

Freight service owners often find out too late that there is more significant financial pressure to run their businesses. This has led to the failure of many such trucking businesses.

Some main expenses arise from fuel purchases, truck payments, insurance payments, etc.

Freight bill payments sometimes take a considerable amount of time. During such times, you need funds to purchase fuel, repair, and pay drivers’ wages.

You can avoid all of these by accessing freight bill factoring services. This readily provides you with funding to take care of the business and delivery of goods.

  • Knowing Your Earning Potential

For any successful business, there is a clear understanding of the earning potential. This is an essential requirement you need to consider. The average starting salary for truckers is $30,000.

However, how much you earn largely depends on your output.

In other words, how much effort you commit determines how much you will earn. If you own one or multiple trucks, your earning capacity potential is primarily increased. Here is how to secure contracts for your trucks.

  • Planning your Business

The planning process is crucial as it has to consider several factors. Here, you must be very clear on how the business will be organized.

This will include registration permits and licenses, an operating budget, a financial projection, and a clear mission.

A trucking business plan will be crucial in attracting funding, as investors must review it to see if your business is viable enough.

  • An Operating Budget

This section of your trucking business plan requires a detailed run-down of all expenses involved. It is also essential to have a contingency plan in place in an emergency.

Under this section, all of your expenses need to be captured. After writing down these expenses, you should check for available financing options. There are lots of such options available.

Some basic operating costs include maintenance and repair fees, truck payments, permits/registrations, insurance, fuel, and daily expenditure costs (including food, drinks, and lodging).

Your plan also sets a clear path or direction to achieve set goals and targets. Without one, your trucking business will, at best, exist with no clear strategies to adopt.

This has led to the failure of many freight companies.

  • Choosing a Location

The scale of your trucking business will determine the type of location to use. Regulatory guidelines usually specify where trucks can or cannot be kept. You are required to abide by such regulations.

Also, avoiding areas with high vehicular traffic would be best when locating your trucking business. This can affect your business as traffic gridlocks can significantly delay delivery times, giving your business a bad reputation.

  • Getting the Right Equipment Suppliers

Equipment is an integral part of a trucking business. Getting the right equipment depends on reliable suppliers. This equipment consists of different types of vehicles that suit your specific needs.

Specific vehicles are best suited for a particular cargo. Hence, your preferred niche will determine the type of vehicles required. Another important factor is available funding.

FleetSeek is a great tool to find which equipment best fits your purposes.

  • Following the Traditional Steps to Starting a Business

This part is an essential step all types of businesses must follow. You must follow the standard procedure to set up your trucking business.

These include selecting a business structure, choosing a truck business name, registering your business, obtaining state and federal tax IDs, applying for licensing opening your business bank account, among others.

Our starting a truck business checklist has considered the essential requirements for setting up your trucking business.

Before embarking on this journey, it is necessary first to conduct market research. This allows you to discover areas with the most opportunities. It is never good to have zeal without understanding what lies ahead.

This article provides much-needed guidance for establishing your trucking company.

TRUCKING COMPANY BUSINESS PLAN EXAMPLE

Here is a sample business plan for starting a refrigerated or dump trucking business.

When goods and services are produced, there has to be a way to move them around. And that’s where a trucking company comes in, so trucking companies help to move goods around.

This is especially useful inland when there are no waterways to move goods or they can’t be moved by rail. Even if they are driven by water and or fence, a truck will still be needed to move them across town.

Trucking is an integral part of business logistics; therefore, if you are interested in starting this kind of business, here is a trucking company business plan.

Business Name: Truckin’ Co Ltd

  • Executive Summary
  • Our Products and Services
  • Vision Statement
  • Mission Statement
  • Business Structure
  • Market Analysis
  • Sales and Marketing Strategy
  • Financial Plan
  • Competitive Advantage
  • Conclusion

Executive Summary

Truckin Co Ltd is attempting the bridge the gap between importers, producers, and the movement of their goods.

It has been noticed that most of the trucking companies deliver subpar services. And this is because there are not enough players in the logistics business.

With our entrance into the business, we plan to give the old guys a run for their money. Truckin’ Co Ltd is situated in Apapa Wharf. And it is run by Mr. Moshood Aribasala, a former employee of Merck Germany.

He was a logistics officer with Maersk for 15 years until his return from the USA.

Our Products and Services

We specialize in providing trucks and trailers for the haulage of heavy goods. We also engage in moving food materials from the Middle Belt down south.

We move raw materials from the mines to the docks, loaded onto ships bound for foreign shores. Finally, we engage in transporting corrosive chemicals and other unstable elements.

Vision Statement

Excellent service delivery is our primary goal. We hope to reduce the time between getting an order and showing up to execute the task. All these we hope to do while charging competitive prices.

Mission Statement

We aim to be the best trucking company in Apapa Wharf and the West African sub-region. This we hope to achieve by assembling a world-class team and always putting our vehicles in order.

Business Structure

Mr. Moshood Aribasala is the chairman of Trucking Co Ltd and the company’s major shareholder. He has two other partners who are major financiers of the company. Then it has managers, schedulers, drivers, and mechanics that perform their duties correctly. There are also accountants, bookkeepers, and front desk personnel.

Market Analysis

Transportation is a money-spinner in every economy, and this is because goods and people have to be moved from one place to the other.

The country is such a big country with a large population and even has more enormous transport needs. It’s also majorly a consumer country, so there is always a lot of importation going on.

And a lot of this happens through the seaports.

That is the primary reason we are located at Apapa Wharf since it is very close to the seaports. Therefore we are sure that there will always be a massive demand for the transportation of goods and services.

There is a higher demand than supply for both the transportation of goods and services. It is also projected that the population will hit 400 million in about 50 years.

Therefore we expect to see a rise in population and demand for goods, which increases.

Sales and Marketing Strategy

The first step is to situate our head office close to the epicenter of importation activities which happens to be the seaports.

Next, we let our work speak for us. We are already building a reputation for excellent service delivery, so word of mouth and repeat customers is one of our marketing strategies.

We would also be advertising with Google Adwords and Bing.

And finally, we shall be advertising on CNN and BBC and take advert spaces on Billboards.

Financial Plans

We are on an expansion plan.

The plan here is to increase the number of trucks and trailers we have, from the current ten to 200, and also an outpost in the mainly agricultural-producing part of the country.

A capital of $10 million is needed to fund this project. We shall be getting this loan from the bank and also from any other willing investors.

Competitive Advantage

We have created a reputation for excellent service delivery; this helps us now and will in the coming Year. Mr. Moshood, the company’s CEO, is experienced in logistics services.

He’s worked with one of the best logistics companies in the world. Therefore, he’ll bring to bear his years of experience.

Conclusion

Starting a truck transport company is not hard. However, it can be both capital and labor-intensive. Here’s a trucking company sample business plan that will help you start yours.

COMMERCIAL TRUCKING BUSINESS PLAN EXAMPLE

The following are sections this sample business plan will be written under;

  • Executive Summary
  • Our Services
  • Vision
  • Mission
  • Business Structure
  • Funding
  • Target Market
  • Competitive Advantage
  • Financial Projection
  • Payment Options
  • Publicity and Advert Strategies

Executive Summary

Motion Logistics is a trucking business to be based in Texas. We will be providing trucking services for a wide range of clients and industries within Texas and beyond.

Our range of services will include daily freight to Austin, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, El Paso, Arlington, Lubbock, Amarillo, and Waco. These would be coordinated from your headquarters in Austin.

We at Motion Logistics seek to offer only the best in trucking services. We have obtained the necessary licensing and permits to operate within Texas to make this possible.

Our expansion drive will focus on increasing our presence first within Texas and beyond. We have discovered that a lot of businesses require quality freight services. This we will provide by ensuring our trucks are in the best condition.

We seek to surpass our client’s expectations through attention to detail. The specific needs of clients are also given full attention as well.

Our Services

Our trucking business will include several freight-related services that include the movement of construction, excavation, and agricultural equipment.

Others will include prompt pick-up and delivery services, home moving services, movement of office equipment, and heavy-duty equipment delivery, among others.

Vision

At Motion Logistics, we seek to become the preferred trucking business in Texas and beyond. Our brand will be promoted through exceptional trucking services for individual and corporate clients.

We plan on achieving nationwide coverage by opening our business offices in all the states within a decade.

Mission

Our mission is to provide quality trucking services to clients. We seek to not only satisfy these clients but to exceed their expectations.

To achieve this, our fleet of trucks will be designed to provide optimal satisfaction. The condition of these trucks will also be a top priority to ensure that the project is our brand to the world.

Business Structure

Motion Logistics is a partnership entered into by Doug Collins and Hayes Murdock, both friends with years of experience in the industry.

Therefore, we will be adopting a partnership structure. The years of experience possessed by both partners is a goldmine that will be exploited in positioning the business to become among America’s most competitive Trucking businesses.

Funding

Motion Logistics will be funded through savings kept aside for this purpose by both parties and through loans sourced from interested investors.

The sum of $300,000 has been raised through savings. This forms 50% of the funding required. We will be increasing the same amount ($300,000) through loans.

SEE: Cost of Starting a Trucking Business

Target Market

We have identified both individual and corporate clients as our primary market.

Hence, we will provide services to people moving between homes, the construction and oil and gas sectors, and freight services for other heavy-duty equipment that fits our expertise.

These sectors are some of the busiest in the industry and offer immense growth opportunities.

Competitive Advantage

At Motion Logistics, we are confident of having a critical edge over other competitors. This is because of the wealth of experience our founders, Doug Collins, and Hayes Murdock, possess.

Both have worked in some of the biggest trucking companies, with Mr. Doug Collins having over 30 years of experience with JB Hunt Transport Company and Hayes Murdock over 20 years with Knight-Swift.

Their experiences will be brought to bear and successes replicated in making Motion Logistics one of America’s most efficiently run trucking services.

Financial Projection

Analysis of the industry and opportunities present has enabled us to develop a 3-year financial projection. The results have been impressive as we have been as realistic as possible.

Apart from events beyond human control, like natural disasters, we have factored in all likely events that impact a business in arriving at the following profit projections;

  • First Year $200,000
  • Second Year $500,000
  • Third-year $1,000,000

Payment Options

We have included multiple payment options to ensure the client’s needs are well handled. These include check payments, bank drafts, transfers, and online/internet banking or transfer.

This accommodates all the primary options available to clients outside cash payments (which are unavailable due to volume).

Publicity and Advert Strategies

We understand the importance of effective advertising/marketing. Hence we will be making use of various channels to promote our business.

These include having a standard website that people can visit, billboards, handbills, fliers, and social media platforms to get the word out.

Other platforms include radio, TV, and newspaper advertisements. Apart from this, we also encourage our satisfied clients to recommend our business too.

You can use This sample trucking business plan to generate one for your business. When writing a trucking business, it is essential to consider the current realities faced by your company. This sample is provided for guidance purposes only.

Seeking legal advice when writing one is a great way to avoid common mistakes many make.

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